Sunday, December 30, 2012

It's that time of year: top tens. Some of my favorites are from Film Crit Hulk, Steve Erickson, Slant Magazine, the AV Club, and of course the staff at New Zealand's own Lumiere Reader. I'm sure I'm missing plenty, so add your favorites (or your own!) to the comments section below. Myself, I'm hanging out in snowy Detroit, waiting to see if I can sneak in a screening of DJANGO UNCHAINED before New Year's Day before I finalize my list.

Meanwhile, it's just as interesting to find what people have found in the closet, and Alamo Drafthouse programmer Lars Nilsen has churned up a tantalizing stack of rarities.

Friday, December 28, 2012

* LIFE OF PI (2D/3D) starts properly this week, Tuesday the 1st of January. Ang Lee's adaptation of the best-selling book tells the tale of a dude getting trapped on a lifeboat with a tiger after his family tries to move their zoo from India to Canada. Lots of neon whales and buzzy shit happening in the trailer, could be worth a peek.

* RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (2D/3D) has already had its preview screenings and is due to start next Thursday. However both Event and Hoyts are now having Advanced Screenings, which, in effect, means it starts this coming Tuesday. Alec Baldwin voicing a tattooed Russian Santa, Jude Law as The Boogeyman, Hugh Jackman as The Easter Bunny…could be fine?

* With so little new, might as well mention the Boxing Day films again! Hilarious English black comedy SIGHTSEERS, Woody Allen's latest ensemble flick TO ROME WITH LOVE, some charming old folk in QUARTET, or the magical 3D animated film WRECK-IT RALPH (2D/3D), for people who love old video games as much as me or these dudes do:

* For fans of the Met Opera screenings; while the other cinemas have LA CLEMENZA DI TITO listed as a Feb 21st release and UN BALLO IN MASCHERA at March 7th, Bridgeway seems to have screenings of both this week. Not sure whether that's incorrect or just real early and fancy, but you can find them here and here.

* I'm writing this on Saturday, so I've missed today's free Rockumentary screening at the Art Gallery (if there was one), but I'm in time for Sunday's; STANDING IN THE SHADOWS OF MOTOWN (2002) will play for FREE at 12 PM Sunday 30th. It's the story of The Funk Brothers, the uncredited studio musicians behind a squillion hits in and around the 60s. Here's one of the tunes they played on now;

All sessions above are accurate at the time of publication. Your best bet would be to check Flicks or the theatre website before attending. Please let us know in the comments if you spy anything we've messed up/missed out!

Thursday, December 20, 2012

I'm sure nobody's surprised, but this Christmas week is packed and messy. We have FIVE Boxing Day films, a stack of previews and everything is arriving on different days. I miss order already. Strap in, 'cause I'm in cast-list mode...

THIS WEEK'S GENERAL RELEASES:

* WELCOME ABOARD (BIENVENUE PARMI NOUS) is the latest from the fellow behind CONVERSATIONS WITH MY GARDENER (DIALOGUE AVEC MON JARDINIER) and MY AFTERNOONS WITH MARGUERITTE (LA TÊTE EN FRICHE). A friendship blossoms between a depressed painter in his sixties and a young lady. Sounds very French. Not yet on Wiki and titled incorrectly on IMDB, it's still playing Rialto Newmarket, The Monterey and The Bridgeway.

* DABANGG 2 is a new Hindi action film starring Salman Khan. Yep, that's all I know. Playing at select multiplexes 'round town.

BOXING DAY FILMS:

* From the director of the insane KILL LIST comes the black comedy SIGHTSEERS (NZFF 2012). This caravan trip with a body count was written by its two leads, and is well worth your time. Playing at The Academy, The Monterey and The Bridgeway.

* WRECK-IT-RALPH is ridiculously up my alley. A hilariously-animated CG film that worships the video games of old, directed by a dude from THE SIMPSONS & FUTURAMA, featuring the voice talents of John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman and Alan Tudyk doing his best Ed Wynn, references to STREET FIGHTER, PAC-MAN, MARIO, SONIC, Q*BERT, plus an end theme from ludicrous J-poppers AKB48. Good Lord, I'll be seeing this again!

* While Marisa Tomei has had some decent roles lately, a new Billy Crystal / Bette Midler picture in 2012 seems odd. But PARENTAL GUIDANCE has indeed happened, starring the three of them. Something to do with babysitting grandchildren? Dustin Hoffman brings us the latest in grandma-cinema with QUARTET. Set in a home for retired opera singers, it stars Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly, Michael Gambon, Tom Courtenay, Pauline Collins and some other sweet old folk. Yikes. Woody Allen continues his tax-break period with TO ROME WITH LOVE. Interweaving tales that star Penélope Cruz, Alec Baldwin, Jesse Eisenberg, Ellen Page, Alison Pill, Greta Gerwig, Roberto Benigni, Judy Davis and of course Woody himself. I may be alone on this, but I adored VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA and will no doubt catch this one just in case.

PREVIEW SCREENINGS:

The five Boxing Day films mentioned above are all getting 'preview screenings' over the next few days. And that's not all; four of next year's films are also getting early sneaks in...

* Ang Lee turned up at Sylvia Park on Thursday to do a Q&A after a screening of his latest film, LIFE OF PI. Based on the best-selling book, a dude gets trapped on a lifeboat with a tiger after his family tries to move their zoo from India to Canada. How awesome to see Irrfan Khan, Rafe Spall & Gérard Depardieu together in a cast list! And the guy who played Shredder in the first TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES movie! Due January 1st, so you have a chance to see it eight days early.

* Nine days ahead of its January 3rd release is the CG fantasy film RISE OF THE GUARDIANS. The story of Santa, The Easter Bunny, The Tooth Fairy & The Sandman calling in Jack Frost to help fight The Boogeyman sounds very childish, but the trailers make it seem better than that. They haven't gone the cutesy route and have Alec Baldwin voicing a tattooed Russian Santa. I'll give it a bash.

* Tom Cruise in an action flick from the guy that brought us THE WAY OF THE GUN might not be the coolest thing, but JACK REACHER also features Robert Duvall, Dick Jenkins, Rosamund Pike and Werner Herzog! Our titular hero is from a whole stack of novels that I've never heard of, about a tough guy who used to be a military cop.

* Rialto has already shown SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS and it seemed to get a pretty great response. Looks like a pretty light-hearted romp about dognapping gone wrong, but I'm in. Coming January 3rd, so the previews are almost two weeks early. From the IN BRUGES guy and check this cast; Christopher Walken, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, Colin Farrell, Harry Dean Stanton, Kevin Corrigan, Michael Pitt, Michael Stuhlbarg…even Tom Waits!!

Now, here is a handy breakdown of what's playing when, for those of you who either want to get in first or would rather forget that Christmas is a thing. And don't forget that Monterey is celebrating their birthday with $8.50 tickets all week!

* There are some more music docos screening for FREE as part of the Who Shot Rock & Roll exhibition at the Auckland Art Gallery this weekend. First up, PUNK: ATTITUDE (2005) is pretty self-explanatory and plays on Saturday at 2 PM. Playing 12:00 PM Sunday is IT MIGHT GET LOUD (2008), which sees Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White all chat about guitars, then jam together. And END OF THE CENTURY is the 2003 doco about The Ramones, playing at 2 PM Sunday.

All sessions above are accurate at the time of publication. Your best bet would be to check Flicks or the theatre website before attending. Please let us know in the comments if you spy anything we've messed up/missed out!

Saturday, December 15, 2012

EDIT: I rang Rialto to find out about these free tickets, and was told that I needed to ring somebody called Josephine on 027 453 1785!! Odd! Also, they're playing in the e-Cinemas...

It's pretty much too late to be mentioning this, but I am so appreciate of Jeff Cook pointing me in the direction of James Partridge's post over on Admit One, that I have to mention it. The Korean Embassy has set up three free film screenings this weekend and while 90% of info online only mentions the Wellington screenings, I did find this Facebook comment;

So it might be time to get skates on and whatnot...

* Animated family flick LEAFIE, A HEN INTO THE WILD (마당을 나온 암탉) has already played, shame. It's based on a children's book about a battery hen escaping the farm and raising a duckling. Or something.

* The rom-com ALL ABOUT MY WIFE (내 아내의 모든 것) is a remake of the 2008 Argentinian film A BOYFRIEND FOR MY WIFE (UN NOVIO PARA MI MUJER). A dude hires his ladies' man neighbour - Ryoo Seung-ryong from WAR OF THE ARROWS (최종병기 활) - to seduce his nagging wife, hoping it'll lead to divorce. Plays Rialto Newmarket at 5:30 PM tonight (Sunday 16th).

* UNBOWED (부러진 화살) is about one man taking on the dirty legal system after being accused of shooting a judge with a crossbow. The trailer (below) sells it as pretty thrilling! Showing Monday 6 PM at Rialto Newmarket.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

* Almost nobody wanted to open the same week as THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY, which was to be expected. As per, there was the usual weekly Bollywood new release scheduled - FOUR TWO KA ONE - but there are no session times up as I type this, which probably means even that chickened out...

* So the only film actually brave enough to attempt a general release alongside Bilbo this week is LOVE IS ALL YOU NEED (DEN SKALDEDE FRISØR). A Danish rom-com starring Trine Dyrholm from THE CELEBRATION (FESTEN), IN CHINA THEY EAT DOGS (I KINA SPISER DE HUNDE) and the recent A ROYAL AFFAIR (EN KONGELIG AFFÆRE), plus good ol' Pierce Brosnan!?! Writer-Director Susanne Bier and her co-writer Anders Thomas Jensen aren't folks I'd usually associate with this genre; this is the pair that were at the Oscars last year with IN A BETTER WORLD (HÆVNEN), and also made OPEN HEARTS (ELSKER DIG FOR EVIGT) in 2002, the original BROTHERS (BRØDRE) in 2004 and AFTER THE WEDDING (EFTER BRYLLUPPET) in 2006. Anyway, I've loved everything I've seen of theirs thus far, so will probably catch it while it's at The Capitol, The Monterey, The Bridgeway and Rialto Newmarket's e-Cinema.

* There is a FREE outdoor screening of GREASE (1978) this Friday at 9 PM. It's part of the series playing at Silo Park, Wynyard Quarter down the waterfront and they've got food stalls, short films and whatnot all happening sometime after 5 PM.

* Another FREE screening for the week; something called MUSTER (RUSHES) is playing Monday 6:30 PM at the St Paul St Gallery, 40 St Paul St in the city. Kind of a complicated beast, best click above for the write-up, rather than me trying to abbreviate it...

* So, after squeezing in a St. Lukes session of REGULAR SHOW the morning of the glorious Movie Marathon the other day, it's been continued for a second weekend at select Event cinemas. I s'pose I should've seen that coming. And speaking of Mordecai and Rigby, remember their rap battle with Big Trouble (Kid Cudi), Blitz Comet (Tyler, The Creator) and Alpha Dog (Childish Gambino)?

* For this month's gay movie night, Number 8 Films is playing BREAKFAST WITH SCOT, a comedy about a Canadian hockey personality living a double life, plus receiving custody of a young boy. It plays at Rialto Newmarket, 6:30 PM Thursday.

* An entry-by-donation screening of 2005's WWI Christmas truce movie JOYEUX NOËL will be taking place at 7 PM Monday at The Peace Place, 22 Emily Place in the city. Featuring both Fredrick Zoller and Bridget von Hammersmark from Inglourious Basterds!

All sessions above are accurate at the time of publication. Your best bet would be to check Flicks or the theatre website before attending. Please let us know in the comments if you spy anything we've messed up/missed out!

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

* Bollywood flick KHILADI 786 hits certain multiplexes this week. It's s'posed to be an action comedy, but this colourful music video makes it look more Gungnam Style than anything...

* The well-lovedPOLISSE is a gritty crime-drama that has been compared to THE WIRE, only set in a Parisian Child Protection Unit. Only screening in Rialto's e-Cinema.

* Speaking of which, their e-cinema also sees the common folk take on Donald Trump in the documentary YOU'VE BEEN TRUMPED, also playing at The Monterey.

* But perhaps everybody is saving their pennies for THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY opening Wednesday midnight. Confusingly available in 2D, 3D, 3D High Frame Rate or 3D IMAX!

REPERTORY / ONE-OFF SCREENINGS:

* Now, while I may put in an appearance at the Middle Earth movie above, the only film event I can think about is THE FATSO 13TH ANNUAL 24 HOUR MOVIE MARATHON. Locked in The Hollywood Cinema from 2:30 PM Saturday till 2:30 PM-ish Sunday, I'm hoping we get through 14 of the most bizarre, trashy, crap abominations imaginable. I cannot wait.

* The latest collection of cartoon episodes to hit the cinemas is REGULAR SHOW, playing at both
Event and
Hoyts on Saturday and Sunday. Wonder if I can squeeze that in before the marathon...?

* There will be a FREE screening at Silo Park of the 2002 spelling bee comedy-doc SPELLBOUND at 9 PM Friday. Take a picnic blanket and go laugh at nerdy children with the whole family. FREE!

* Also FREE, the Auckland Art Gallery is playing the 1997 hip hop doco RHYME AND REASON at Sunday 1 PM (with a lecture about the history of American hip hop afterwards, too). Featuring Biggie & Tupac, Wu-Tang members, Nas, Q-Tip, Chuck D, pretty much everybody. Even this guy:

All sessions above are accurate at the time of publication. Your best bet would be to check Flicks or the theatre website before attending. Please let us know in the comments if you spy anything we've messed up/missed out!

Speaking of apps: RunPee may very well change your life, if you have a small bladder and love movies.

The New York Film Critics Circle start the awards-season tsunami by honoring Kathryn Bigelow's ZERO DARK THIRTY; more interesting than choosing one of the eight names that will pop up over and over on lists for the next month is J. Hoberman's breakdown of the process.

And not related to film at all, but hey: I edited this music video for the song "Pretty Much" by Gatherer. The heavy lifting was done by director Alastair Tye Samson and motion graphics designer Lucas Brooking.